This vegan Portuguese honey, almond and orange cake is zesty, delicious and bursting with flavour. The recipe is based on a Portuguese classic that has been popular for generations and with good reason. Using no refined sugars this cake instead uses agave nectar and fresh oranges for sweetness giving it a sharp, authentic taste. The result is a truly sublime vegan twist on an amazingly traditional Portuguese cake.

As with most of our recipes this Portuguese vegan cake was inspired by our travels. In Portugal we were constantly surrounded by delicious looking food but realised that Portugal is a land filled with avid fish, meat and dairy eaters. Fed up of missing out on regional specialities and traditional dishes we thought something had to change. So, we put our culinary caps on and came up with this deliciously moreish Portuguese vegan cake!

During the 15th century monks and nuns paved the way for confectionery throughout Portugal. Surprisingly these holy folk were commonly paid by the poor with chickens and eggs. To starch their laundry they would use egg whites which meant a lot of leftover egg yolks. With a bit of creativity and a lot of time on their hands they conjured up an array of recipes to use up all the eggy leftovers. These recipes have grown world renown and have been enjoyed for centuries but unfortunately not by us vegans.

The authors of Fabrico Próprio: The Design of Portuguese Semi-Industrial Confectionery, described “These places of faith and seclusion were often true laboratories of creation, where the religious dedicated themselves to rescuing old recipes, or to testing new ingredients from all over the world.”

Whilst in Lisbon finding vegan sweet treats wasn’t easy

With so many convents in Portugal, the variety of sweet treats was abundant and enjoyed across the country.Traditionally the main ingredients would be egg yolks and sugar with flour, nuts, cinnamon, vanilla, coconut and other spices that Portugal enjoyed because of trade and colonial ties.

When the Portuguese first brought sweet oranges over from India and China they were very expensive and only a luxury enjoyed by the rich. As time went on and sweet oranges became more widely available they were combined with original religious recipes creating the honey, almond and orange cake we know today.

I challenge you not to have a taste whilst whisking up this bad boy

Portuguese Vegan Honey, Almond and Orange Cake

Now as interesting as this may be it’s not much use to us vegans. To be blunt, Portuguese food is not “vegan friendly”, nor has it ever been and this recipe traditionally contains eggs. Never ones to miss out on a tasty treat here at Veggie Vagabonds HQ we’ve devised a super scrummy Portuguese vegan cake that is zesty, gooey and scrumptious.

This cake uses no refined sugar and instead uses agave nectar and orange for sweetness. I think it’s that much better using naturally sweet ingredients rather than processed sugar. This is also the first recipe on the blog that uses ground flax seed as an egg replacement. I’ve always been put off by the price tag but decided to try something new as it’s very good for you. The end result was a success – I am a convert and look forward to many more recipes with flax eggs. If you’re not sure where to buy flax seeds locally you can pick them up on Amazon here.

So give this classic Portuguese vegan cake a go and let us know what you think in the comments and #veggievagabonds on social media.

Method;1. Grease a baking tin, roughly 20cm, and preheat the oven to 160 degrees.2. Make the flax eggs by mixing the ground flax seeds with the water and leave to set for about 10 minutes.3. Whisk the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt until evenly combined.4. Once the flax eggs have set whisk with the agave nectar, then add the orange zest and juice.5. Fold the wet mixture into the dry mixture until fully combined.6. Pour the mixture into the baking tin and bake for one hour or until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

Hi!
As a portuguese and former avid fish, eggs and dairy eater I must say that I really miss pastéis de nata (portuguese custard cream tarts).
If you somehow manage to create a vegan recipe that makes them great, please share!
TKS

Rather worryingly, I have all the ingredients in the house, so that could actually be appearing for dinner tonight! I’m sure I can substitute a gluten free flour blend, and it will be delicious. I’m really loving flax eggs in recipes at the moment; they seem to give everything a rather good nuttiness.

I still never quite understand how cakes turn out without eggs? ARe they light or do they become quite a dense cake? Interesting about the history of the food in this area. Having spent time in Portugal I completely understand how much they live on meat and seafood.

This recipe uses ground flax meal as an alternative to egg, and baking powder to help with the rise. This cake is really moist and the addition of orange gives it another dimension of juicy-ness! Try whipping up this recipe & see for yourself how an egg-less cake turns out – I think you’ll enjoy the results!

This honey, almond and orange cake recipe looks and sounds yummy that it is making my mouth water just thinking about it now. It is interesting to know that no refined sugars are used but instead nectar and fresh oranges for sweetness and no eggs. I will have to try this out for my husband

Although this recipe was tasty, there are a few improvements I’d suggest! There was a bit too much baking powder (I could taste it in the cake!)- I think one or two teaspoons would have done just as well. I think an extra fat source would also have been good. The texture was really light and fluffy though and it was nice to have the almonds in the cake! Thanks for the recipe.

Hey Lily, thanks for the feedback! I used that much in order to help with the rise, otherwise I have found the cake too dense. Shame that you were able to taste the baking powder though. Did you use heaped or level teaspoons?

Hmm coconut oil might be good and it would add an undertone of flavour! I might give it a spin in the not too distant future. Please do report back 🙂 It’s so great to connect & swap ideas! Happy baking! xx

Hi Adva, thanks for your feedback. Perhaps it was too gooey as you used honey, agave is thinner than honey and the recipe accounts for this. Perhaps if you don’t want to use agave may I suggest brown rice syrup 🙂

Hey Misbah, welcome to the glorious world of veganism! Glad you like the look of the cake 🙂 Let me know what you think of the recipe if you give it a whirl. I have never tried making a vegan version but I am always up for a challenge. I’ll get my creative juices flowing and see what I can invent. Keep your eyes on the blog over the coming weeks and I’ll see what I can muster up.
How long have you been vegan? I’m curious have you encountered any difficulties changing to a vegan diet? Is there anything else you’d like to see on the blog? X X

Hey Linda, not at all dumb! Yes it’s roughly 240ml give or take a couple of ml. Let me know what you think of the recipe when you give it a whirl. I think it gets better after a day or two as all the juices pull together making it really sweet and sticky.

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